I think one of the most disenfranchised group in my country, is not an ethic group but an entire people group. Hear me out, we didn't get the Americans with Disabilities Act until around 1997. I have worked in the special needs feild for around 7 years all together and the systems we have inplace are sad and sub par.
At 19 years old i was told basically to care for a group of individuals with a wide range of disabilities for 8 dollars an hour and little to no training. Im not bitching about the pay. I loved that job. What i am bitching about is the lack of infrastructure to care for people properly.
Even buildings deemed handicapped accessible, dont and will probably never be accessible for every one. I have a guy that I care for with cerebral palsy who was a college student. The college did have buttons on the doors to open the doors but a lot of times the buttons were too high for him to reach. He had a power chair that looks at power than a standard wheelchair that everybody is used to seeing. I never realized how difficult it is to maneuver around buildings like that until I started working with him.
Another thing I've noticed even more than that is the stairs people give. I can go to the grocery store with him or somebody else in his position and the look of sheer Terror on the faces of different people mostly children. And then the awkward glances from adults. I think the problem stems from the fact that as a society we don't know how to interact with people with disabilities and I really think something needs to be done within Society to change that
Let me take him just once to go get a burger without people staring or thinking he's less than.
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Yeah i agree with you if you are also including mental illnesses in this. The world as we know it is not set up for people with mental illnesses to thrive. Expect us to look talk act and work the same way as neurotypical people do but we don't. Our brains and bodies are wired differently. This is a literal fact but the world expects us to pretend to be normal. People with high-functioning Autism are taught how to fake emotions and how to look people in the eye. People with ADHD are given medication and told to write lists jobs and life is not set up for people who cannot remember things or have a hard time focusing and multitasking but they are expected to pretend to be normal in a job.
Your very much right,